There’s a new way to have nikkei fast food in Lima: a crunchy nori shell filled with rice and flavor-packed proteins. The tacos are just the beginning, but they have an array of nikkei preparations for a quick feast.
A Nori Taco?
It started in 2016 in the OC (California); the chef at Norigami (a sushi place in California) was working on a late shift when experimentation began. As a joke, a sheet of nori was dipped into tempura batter and dropped into the fryer; the chef added some leftover sushi rice, krab mix, and whatever sushi scraps got their hands, and a new way to have tacos was born.
Coming to Lima vía Osaka…
The culinary team MCK that owns the Osaka restaurant brand, a leading nikkei restaurant with almost ten locations worldwide, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Quito, and Miami, with Upcoming locations in Chicago, Madrid, and Dubai, is behind this new concept, a Fast nikkei for younger crowds.
The restaurant has pops of colors, tall windows, great natural lights during the day, and neon lights and colors at night; the music is cool-pop, a modern place with a slightly Japanese-inspired style.
The Menu
We went to try some of the menu; from their nikkei revolution section of the menu we tried the Parma Divers, small bitee-size rolls with avocado, Grana Padano cheese, and scallops, covered in a sauce that was not so kind to the delicate flavor of the Peruvian Scallops. We also tried the Gyoza Bomb!, deep-fried gyoza with beef, cheese, and truffle flavor, with a sweet and spicy sauce; The Niku Sando is a breaded deep-fried beef on sandwich bread with coleslaw and a side of tartar sauce it was juicy and with bite variety, you have peaks of textures and flavor from this one.
From their Nori taco, which is the center of the concept, the shell is well made with a great crunch bite and a flavorful filling with their Smoked Crab; it flavors their crab with rocoto (it is not hot at all), Kyuri, and rice. The Truffle Scallops are much kinder to the Scallop using an acevichado sauce and a hint of truffle oil.
Some of their options also include Handrolls, whole pieces of sushi rolls to grab and eat, using the same flavors, tuna, scallops, crab and the Ebi panko, filled with deep-fried shrimp and avocado, Crispy Rice with options like avocado, crab, tuna and scallops and Bowls which they have their House NT with Salmon; we recommend you to try the Teri Chicken with smoked flavored chicken, tare sauce, avocado, and crunchy garlic.
Drinks and dessert
Their drinking options include two non-alcoholic cocktails, the ginger yuzu, a citrusy sweet drink with a hint of ginger and cinnamon, and the passion tea, a sweet green tea and hibiscus-based beverage with passion fruit flavor. NT Tacos also offers hot drinks like Sencha green tea, Lemon grass, and jasmine tea. Their alcoholic cocktails are on a slushy machine, the Apple saketini with sake, gin, apple, and cucumber, or the Frosé NT, with vodka, rosé, grapefruit, strawberry, and lemon cordial.
For pre-made bottled drinks, have sodas, water, and some alcoholics like Japanese kirin beer and wine by the glass or bottle.
The sweet ending comes in the form of a Miso flan with chocolate cover cereal placed on top of some sort of furikake and the soon-to-come matcha soft serve with citrus sundae sauce.
